We met during an online graduate student council meeting (Unbeknownst to Niko, he had missed the first meeting!). Niko was instantly drawn to Jamie's Google Meets square. Jamie decided to not look at Niko's square because she was set on not dating anyone until after graduation. To introduce himself (and armed with a bowl of yogurt, grapes, and crunchy granola), Niko mentioned he enjoyed working out, hiking, and checking out local suburbs... which Jamie couldn't resist. After the meeting, Niko emailed Jamie and expressed his desire to go on a hike with her. He included his phone number in the email. Jamie didn't reply until 5 PM the next day. Unfortunately for Niko, she did not include her phone number in her response...Nonetheless, they began emailing back and forth to plan a group hiking trip to Rock Cut State Park. Jamie invited many friends to go on this trip. Yet, each of them cancelled for various reasons, making Niko the only person going with Jamie on this trip. Jamie thought, "I'm not going into the forest alone with this strange guy I just met!!" and emailed a list serve containing over 400 Wheaton residents, each of whom had expressed at least somewhat of an interest in hiking. Just two individuals--Jackson and Andy--replied and agreed to go on the trip with us (we've never seen or heard from them again). Jamie also commissioned more friends--Ben, Liz, and Allie (Lou)--to go on the trip. The morning of the trip, Niko arrived to Jamie's Tiny House clad in white tennis shoes, a tight graphic T-shirt, and cargo shorts. Little did she show, Jamie had laid her eyes on her future husband for the first time...in dad shoes. Over the next couple months, they co-ran multiple bonfires for Wheaton College graduate students. That November, Jamie invited Niko to another group attending a local play. However, no one in the group wanted to go because they thought the play was supposed to be a date for us. So, we attended the play alone. Afterwards, we drove the entire length of Roosevelt Road in search for tacos (i.e., for our non-Chicagoans, Roosevelt is a long road that cuts through multiple Chicagoland suburbs and eventually reaches the lake downtown). That night was November 6, 2020, the official anniversary of Jiko. *Note: Our pet name (Polar Bear) came about in December 2020. Jamie found a local financial institution offering holiday pictures for donations to a fundraiser. We decided to dress as polar bears for the photo shoot.